Inbreeding and outcrossing White tiger

a captive white tiger

because of extreme rarity of white tiger allele in wild, breeding pool limited small number of white tigers in captivity. according kailash sankhala, last white tiger ever seen in wild shot in 1958. today there large number of white tigers in captivity. white amur tiger may have been born @ center hill , has given rise strain of white amur tigers. man named robert baudy realized tigers had white genes when tiger sold marwell zoo in england developed white spots, , bred them accordingly. lowry park zoo in tampa bay has 4 of these white amur tigers, descended robert baudy s stock.

it has been possible expand white-gene pool outcrossing white tigers unrelated orange tigers , using cubs produce more white tigers. white tigers ranjit, bharat, priya , bhim outcrossed, in instances more 1 tiger. bharat bred unrelated orange tiger named jack san francisco zoo , had orange daughter named kanchana. bharat , priya bred unrelated orange tiger knoxville zoo, , ranjit bred tiger s sister, knoxville zoo. bhim fathered several litters unrelated orange tigress named kimanthi @ cincinnati zoo. ankam ranjeeth had several mates @ omaha zoo.

the last descendants of bristol zoo s white tigers group of orange tigers outcrosses bought pakistani senator , shipped pakistan. rajiv, pretoria zoo s white tiger, born in cincinnati zoo, outcrossed , sired @ least 2 litters of orange cubs @ pretoria zoo. outcrossing not done intent of producing more white cubs resuming inbreeding further down line. outcrossing way of bringing fresh blood white strain. new delhi zoo loaned out white tigers of india s better zoos outcrossing, , government had impose whip force zoos return either white tigers or orange offspring.

a captive white bengal tiger @ cincinnati zoo

siegfried & roy performed @ least 1 outcross. in mid-1980s offered work indian government in creation of healthier strain of white tigers. indian government reportedly considered offer; however, india had moratorium on breeding white tigers after cubs born @ new delhi zoo arched backs , clubbed feet, necessitating euthanasia. siegfried & roy have bred white tigers in collaboration nashville zoo.

because of inbreeding , resulting genetic defects association of zoos , aquariums barred member zoos breeding white tigers, white lions , king cheetahs in white paper adopted board of directors in july 2011. noteworthy first person speak out against displaying of white tigers william g. conway, general director of new york zoological society, later became known wildlife conservation society when said, white tigers freaks. s not role of zoo show 2 headed calves , white tigers. warned aza in 1983 of harm zoo s credibility in catering public s fascination freaks, went unheeded until 2008 when aza issued request members stop breeding white tigers , later in july 2011 when aza formally adopted stance policy. conway attacked ed maruska of cincinnati zoo observation, in end conway s belief validated.

a complete scan of genome led discovery white tiger’s distinguishing characteristic arises single naturally occurring mutation, substitution of 1 amino acid another—valine alanine—in protein identified slc45a2. implication of discovery means white tigers can bred colored bengal tiger pair possessing unique naturally occurring recessive gene.